Lifeboat Foundation

The second half of Tsiolkovsky’s famous quote refers to not just living on the Earth but relying on it as we venture farther out into the cosmos. Even today, as the International Space Station orbits above at 28,000 kilometers per hour (17,500 miles per hour), those astronauts require constant resupply from the ground to stay alive. Future astronauts on the Moon might only have to wait three days to receive supplies from Earth, but as we move farther out into space, especially to Mars, this reliance will undoubtedly become far more tedious, time-consuming, and costly. Therefore, if humanity is to establish a long-term presence in space, we have to learn to use the on-hand resources we have at our disposal.

A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has developed a sustainable method for making bricks out of Martian soil, using bacteria and urea. Mammals, including humans, are the primary producers of urea. Because they secrete urea as the primary nitrogenous waste product, they are called ureotelic animals. Urea serves an important role in the metabolism of nitrogen-containing compounds by animals. These so-called “space bricks” can be used to construct building-like structures on Mars that could facilitate human settlement on the Red Planet.

The method for making these space bricks was published in PLOS One. A slurry is first created by mixing Martian soil (simulant) with guar gum, a bacterium called Sporosarcina pasteurii, urea, and nickel chloride (NiCl2). This slurry can be poured into molds of any desired shape, and over a few days, the bacteria convert the urea into crystals of calcium carbonate. These crystals, along with biopolymers secreted by the microbes, act as the cement holding the soil particles together. An advantage of this method is the reduced porosity of the bricks, which has been a problem with other methods used to consolidate Martian soil into bricks.

Our brain is constantly working to make sense of the world around us and finding patterns in it, even when we are asleep the brain is storing patterns. Making sense of the brain itself, however, has remained an intricate pursuit.

Christoff Koch, a well-known neuroscientist, famously called the human brain the “most complex object in our observable universe” [1]. Aristotle, on the other hand, thought it was the heart that gave rise to consciousness and that the brain functioned as a cooling system both practically and philosophically [2]. Theories of the brain have evolved since then, generally shaped by knowledge gathered over centuries. Historically, to analyze the brain, we had to either extract the brain from deceased people or perform invasive surgery. Progress over the past decades has led to inventions that allow us to study the brain without invasive surgeries. A few examples of imaging techniques that do not require surgery include macroscopic imaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) or approaches with a high temporal resolution such as electroencephalogy (EEG). Advances in treatments, such as closed-loop electrical stimulation systems, have enabled the treatment of disorders like epilepsy and more recently depression [3, 4]. Existing neuroimaging approaches can produce a considerable amount of data about a very complex organ that we still do not fully understand which has led to an interest in non-linear modeling approaches and algorithms equipped to learn meaningful features.

Continue reading “Deep Learning in Neuroimaging” »

A UK study has discovered five types of bacteria linked to aggressive prostate cancer. The breakthrough could help doctors identify who needs urgent treatment.

Every year, around 12,000 men in the UK die from prostate cancer, but many more die with prostate cancer than from it. So knowing whether the disease is going to advance rapidly or not is important for knowing who to treat.

Our latest study, published in European Urology Oncology, sheds some light on understanding which cancers will progress rapidly and aggressively and which won’t. Part of the answer lies with five types of bacteria.

Continue reading “Prostate cancer linked to bacteria, raising hope of new test and treatment” »

The hotspots of virus-jumping will be regions with species-rich ecosystems (particularly areas of Africa and Asia) and areas that are densely populated like India and Indonesia.

A 200-μm scale 3D reconstruction of the human brain was created based on ultrahigh-field quantitative MRI and light microscopy.

All DNA/RNA nucleobases were identified in carbonaceous meteorites. Having been provided to the early Earth as a component in carbonaceous meteorites, these molecules might have played a role for the emergence of genetic functions in early life.

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A team of international researchers have identified a genetic cause of lupus. Researchers of the study pinpointed that DNA mutations in a gene that senses viral RNA represents one cause of the chronic condition, affecting approximately 1 in 1,000 people living in the UK. It is important to note that this genetic cause is not the sole trigger for everyone affected by lupus.

Researchers of the study sequenced the whole DNA genome of a juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus (JSLE) patient called Gabriela, who was diagnosed with severe lupus at the age of seven. A severe case such as this, with early onset of symptoms, is a rarity and is commonly associated with a single genetic cause, unlike adult-onset lupus.

Continue reading “Researchers find a genetic cause for lupus” »

Earlier this month, we brought you the news that epigenetic reprogramming startup YouthBio Therapeutics had emerged from stealth. The company shed some light on its plans to develop epigenetic reprogramming therapies for age-related diseases by rejuvenating certain cells in our bodies. YouthBio aims to achieve this rejuvenation by developing gene therapies that enable partial cellular reprogramming – an area of longevity science that is now attracting significant commercial interest.

Longevity. Technology: Cellular reprogramming refers to the process of returning adult cells to a “pluripotent” state: blank, embryonic-like cells that can become any cell in the body. This reprogramming can be achieved using techniques based on the discovery of Yamanaka factors.

0:00 PeopleLens AI Helps The Blind.
1:40 Brain Fingerprints Detect Autism.
4:52 AI Predicts Cancer Tumor Regrowth.

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SingularityNET AGIX Website — https://singularitynet.io
Developer Documentation — https://dev.singularitynet.io/
Publish AI Services — https://publisher.singularitynet.io/
AGIX Community Telegram — https://t.me/singularitynet
AGIX Price Chat Telegram — https://t.me/AGIPriceTalk

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